Enough With The Summer Patronage In State Agencies

More than half the summer employees at the state Department of Transportation share the same last names as full-time DOT employees, Courant writer Jon Lender reports.

Over at the state Department of Economic and Community Development, three of 17 summer job slots are held by family members of DECD officials, Mr. Lender writes. One manager sat in on the job interview of her daughter. The nephew of a deputy commissioner got one of four jobs at the central office in Hartford.

Yet none of the 17 jobs at DECD went to Hartford residents. Nor were any of the jobs advertised. The pay is good, at $12 to $14 an hour.

Patronage has long been winked at in Connecticut state government. But such preferential treatment is patently unfair, especially to young job-seekers in Hartford — the political heart of Connecticut with, ironically, the highest jobless rate in the state. The unemployment rate for young adults in Hartford was more than twice the statewide rate in 2011, according to the state Department of Labor.

The dangers of loading organizations up with relatives are well-known: Protective family members may cover for inept, corrupt kin or use them to hide their own malfeasance.

Also, hiring relatives is an age-old tool for manipulation, a way for bosses to do favors, get favors done and keep employees in line.

And nepotism is antithetical to a meritocracy, which citizens expect their government to be.

Other states are quite clear on the matter. A state official in Louisiana can't have a relative working in the agency he or she oversees (because of that state's sorry experience). Connecticut's statutes, however, don't explicitly prohibit such practices.

One solution is to fix the law. Another, suggested by Mr. Lender, is to choose summer workers by random lottery, as New York City has done for many years. Yet another is to deepen the pool by publicizing summer jobs far and wide.